


sweet serial killer (I love you just a little too much)

by ohmyvalar



Category: From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series
Genre: 5 Times, But not really in detail, Canon-Typical Violence, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-13
Updated: 2014-08-13
Packaged: 2018-01-21 18:22:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1559720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmyvalar/pseuds/ohmyvalar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times Seth and Richie kissed, ranging from platonic to not quite platonic anymore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	sweet serial killer (I love you just a little too much)

**Author's Note:**

> There is a situation of attempted non-con, so proceed with caution! 
> 
> Un-beta'd, so all mistakes are mine and mine alone!

1.

 

The room was dark, the lights long since turned off. The room's current sole occupant slept soundly in their shared bed, his breaths soft and even. Little Richie snuck into the room, taking care to close the door softly behind him as he stumbled off towards the bed, careful not to trip over the various items strewn over the room's floor. 

If he closed his eyes, Little Richie could picture the room's layout in his mind's eye; exactly where the stray objects lying around the floor had been placed in the day. He reckoned that Dad wouldn't have messed the place up again- Little Richie had made sure of that, taking what Dad had dished out, holding on to the thought that it would've been Seth in his place. 

And Seth had to be protected, at all and any cost. Little Richie had learnt that lesson long ago, since the first time he had seen Dad use the belt on Seth. It was child abuse, and Little Richie knew that Dad knew it too. It didn't matter, he told himself. If no one would help them, at least Seth and him had each other. 

Crawling up onto the bed, Little Richie winced as he hit his leg in the process of lifting it up. Ever since they'd hit elementary school, the bed had begun to become too small to fit both of them together comfortably. Little Richie had already made plans for the inevitable day when they would no longer both fit. He could sleep on the floor- make a makeshift pallet out of their clothes and lie down on them. 

Seth seemed to be dreaming; his eyelids fluttered and he seemed to be mouthing something Little Richie couldn't see in the darkness. Little Richie felt the familiar urge to comfort his brother rising in him, but he didn't want to disturb Seth either. Then, an idea hit him. 

Leaning closer, he mimicked something Mum had done to him when he was much younger, pressing a small kiss to Seth's forehead. Mummy had died in labor, so Seth had never had the opportunity for such affections. And Dad had turned violent after that, returning home drunk almost everyday. If not for Uncle Eddie, Little Richie would never have been able to keep Seth safe and fed. 

But Uncle Eddie was gone now, and Little Richie was alone. 

No, never alone; he had Seth with him. Seth. His baby brother, except he was growing up now, with beautiful expressive eyes and lashes so much like Mummy's. Little Richie suspected that that was part of the reason why Dad hated Seth so much. 

Seth gave a small sigh of satisfaction, adjusting unconsciously in his sleep to huddle closer to Little Richie. Little Richie obliged his brother, moving closer to wrap an arm around Seth carefully in order not to wake him, pulling the abandoned blanket back over both of them, and settled down for sleep.

What he didn't know was that Seth would wake after those moments, when he was sure that Richie was fast asleep, to stroke his brother's hair and whisper 'thank you' into his hair, the words soft in the darkness and privacy of their room. 

And they both wouldn't know yet that years and years later, it would be these short, blissful moments that Seth would hold on to in his days in jail, playing them over and over again in his mind. Richie might have always stored logic and knowledge into the contours of his brain, but Seth's mind was reserved for memories and dreams. 

..........

2.

 

Richie got his first pair of glasses in ninth grade. 

At first, Richie hadn't minded; he'd seen the glasses as a representation of his already recognized intelligence, but then his classmates at school had started laughing at the awkward manner with which he had to keep pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose to stop them from falling off. 

That made Richie angry, and his classmates soon learnt that they did not want to see Richard Gecko angry, or worse, angry at them. 

Seth found Richie in the kitchen, rifling through the refrigerator. There was a plastic bag filled with small canisters filled with ingredients that Seth wasn't familiar with set on the kitchen bar, but they hadn't looked edible to him. 

"Richie," Seth called out, walking over to join his brother. When Richie looked up, the expression on his face was painfully neutral, which usually meant that he was hiding something from Seth. 

Seth frowned in disapproval as he stared at the ingredients laid out before them. Even if he wasn't as smart as his brother, he knew something was up. 

"What's wrong, Richie?" He asked, trying to make his brother meet his gaze. Eyes never lied; that was a lesson Seth had learnt long ago, even though staring right into their father's eyes usually just made the subsequent beatings all the much worse. 

Seth suspected that it had something to do with his uncanny resemblance with his mother. 

Richie, on the other hand, had never been able to lie to Seth while looking at him straight in the eyes, and it was a fact Seth was fully prepared to exploit. 

"It's nothing." Richie said, just a little too quickly. He tried to brush past Seth, but his brother blocked his escape. 

"Come on, Richie. I know you better than that, and you know it." Seth cajoled. 

Richie frowned, annoyed at his brother's persistence. "It's got nothing to do with you." The tone was firm, brooking no argument. Just a few years ago, Seth would have kept quiet and obeyed his big brother, but now Seth was older. He could share his brother's burdens. 

"Is this about our father?" Seth asked, the words slipping out of his mouth before he could stop them. 

Richie stopped in his tracks, and Seth's mouth went dry. He hadn't meant to say that, he really hadn't. Seth might be the one that their father liked to beat up more often, but Seth knew exactly how much Richie had done to protect him. 

And it was also one topic that never failed to get Richie riled up; the fact that Seth didn't trust him to protect him. And that wasn't true- Seth would trust Richie with his life, but he didn't trust Richie to not hurt himself in the process. Richie just never seemed to get that, for all his genius. 

"No, it's not. And you know what, Seth? It wouldn't be your business even if it were." Richie said shortly, pushing past a shocked Seth roughly, making for the door. 

Seth staggered, barely even registering it as he leant back against the kitchen bar, now alone. 

How could Richie say that? If there was one thing their father was good for, it was being a common force the Gecko brothers could work against. Their father's violence towards them was something Seth and Richie both rebelled against, as best they could. 

And now Richie was saying that Seth didn't have any part in that? 

Fine. If Richie didn't want to share about his goddamn problems, he could keep them to himself. It wasn't like Seth cared. Right? 

........

Immediately after stepping through the doorway, Richie regretted his harsh words. Seth might have no business in this particular matter, but Dad... Dad was the one constant threat towards his brother that Richie was terrified of, because he couldn't control him. 

Not that Richie would ever tell his brother that. 

And now he wasn't in the mood for sabotage anymore. It was always like this, with Seth. His brother erased all logic within him somehow, insensibly, irrationally. And now all Richie felt was a quaint mixture of anger and regret, burning low and deep in his gut. 

Fine. Richie would apologize, but only after he'd burnt out his frustrations with a walk around the park of something, anything to take his mind off Seth and the stricken look on his brother's face when he had pushed past him. 

But when Richie came back, Seth wasn't there. 

He wasn't there at the door, nor in their room. Richie felt panic sear red hot in his blood, anxiety festering under his skin as he raised his voice. "Seth? Where are you?" He asked. It was too early for Dad to be back yet; and usually the commotions Dad caused were loud enough to raise Richie's alarm once he'd stepped through the door. 

Unless... Richie's blood chilled at the thought of what Dad might do. 

Recently, Dad's mood swings had worsened, his tempers more silent and much more violent. Dad would step through the door, seemingly calm and sober, except that Richie would've been able to smell the alcohol on him a mile away. 

And then, without warning, Dad would grab one of them- usually Seth, it was always Seth that Dad hated more- and hit hard, right across the cheek. It seemed to be a symbolic gesture, Richie had deduced, because it was the only part in Dad's screwed up 'Daddy's home, kids' ritual that he ever kept to. The sequence that followed was always a series of blows and shoves, with the other Gecko brother trying to step in. 

Richie felt the fear churn in his stomach again. Shit, if anything had happened while he was away having a hissy fit, he'd- 

The nerves and fear dissipated when he saw Seth in the kitchen, dozing off against the kitchen bar, slumped in the chair. Relief washed over Richie, drowning him in waves so strong that he felt paralyzed under their onslaught, weak-kneed. 

"Seth, god, you scared me," Richie muttered under his breath, pressing his forehead against his brother's. Up close, he could feel Seth's even exhales against his skin, and the steady symbolism of Seth's heartbeat warmed Richie's heart like nothing else did. 

Slowly, Seth's eyes flickered open, and Richie hated the way that they went instantly alert, mental walls already up, knowing that Dad had put that there, and knowing that he had failed to stop Dad from putting it there. 

Then his brother's eyes softened, the guarded mask dropping from his face. There was calm there, but also the barest hint of reproach that Richie knew would come surging up to the surface with full force if he didn't say something right then. 

The words had always been hard-pressed to leave Richie's tongue- Richie had always hated to admit that he was wrong. 

"I'm sorry." Richie said simply, without hesitation. He kept it short and sweet, but the tone with which he delivered the two simple words held a world of meaning. 

Seth understood. His lips quirked in a smile, and his eyes lit up with that look of pure, genuine glee that was Richie's favorite look on his brother's face. 

Because he knew that only he could put that expression on Seth's face. Seth reserved that smile, that glint in his eyes for only Richie, and Richie fully intended to keep it that way. 

Richie smiled back in return, and suddenly the world seemed to brighten, and his problems a million miles away. That was the power Seth had over Richie; the ability to distract his brother from anything and everything. Or at least, Richie hadn't yet found something that could divert his attention from his baby brother for long. 

And he knew that Seth fully intended to keep it that way. 

"Hey. So what was it that got you so worked up, anyway?" Seth asked afterwards, and Richie found that he didn't really care anymore. "Oh, nothing. Just... Some kids from school commenting on my new look." Richie's tone was sardonic, laced with contempt. 

Seth blinked, his gaze falling to land on Richie's spectacles. When he opened his mouth to speak, Richie tensed unconsciously. Screw his classmates, but Seth's opinion mattered more than anything else. 

Seth noticed his brother's sudden change in demeanor, and hesitated. "I... I think it suits you." He finally said, his voice soft. "You look...." Beautiful. "... Professional in them. They make you seem... Smart." Seth ended awkwardly. 

Judging by the expression on his brother's face, Richie hadn't been expecting that. Seth cleared his throat, pointedly looking away. 

It took a moment for Richie to regain his composure. Then he's leaning over and pressing their foreheads together, both hands set square on Seth's shoulders, so that it almost seems like a headlock. "Come on, brother. That wasn't sappy at all." He taunted. 

Seth smirked, a look of challenge entering his dark eyes. "You know you love me too, Richie." 

And screw him, but Richie did. So he leaned over, shortening the already close distance between them and casually planting one on the side of Seth's cheek. 

Dark color flooded Seth's cheeks, and then his brother was slapping him away reproachingly. But they were both smiling when Dad returned, a silent silhouette in the doorway of the kitchen. 

That night, for once, Dad didn't touch them, instead holing up in his room. 

It was almost as if he was afraid of Richie and Seth, of the intimacy they had displayed. And he had good reason to, Richie thought darkly.

The Gecko brothers would grow up to be formidable, each in their own ways, enough to hold their own. But together they would be terrifying, because of their strangely strong bond and their ruthlessness when it came down to protecting each other. 

..........

3.

 

The rain sloshed down hard on Richie's already drenched suit, but he didn't care, his resolve hardened by the circumstances and the thought of what he had just done. He'd killed the man who'd stood in between he and Seth's victory, and he didn't regret it. 

In fact, Richie would be lying to himself if the thought didn't send a little thrill through him. 

It wasn't killing the man had made Richie feel that way, but the fact that he'd done it for his brother. For Seth. Richie didn't know which one would be the more fucked up thought, so he tried to block his thoughts away. 

Still, Richie couldn't find it in himself to regret his choice, to regret pulling the trigger. 

Richie had barely made it through the door before Seth was on him. "Richie, what the hell, dude? What did you think you were doing, going out there alone to 'settle it out' with that guy?" Seth asked, spitting out the words at bullet-train speed, his eyes blazing with anger and concern. 

Richie brushed past his brother, unconcerned. "I did what I had to do," He said shortly, moving into the kitchen to get a drink. It had been an exhausting hour of moving the dead dealer's body into a ditch, where he wouldn't be found for at least another few hours, and fuck, yeah, Richie could really care less. He'd recharge for a bit, fill Seth in on the details and then go bury the dealer together in some deserted woods.

Besides, immediately calling Seth over to the crime scene wouldn't have gone down well, as Seth's current reaction was proving. Richie loved his brother, he really did, but Seth could be really... Hotheaded sometimes. 

"Which was?" Seth probed, hands thrown up in the air, brow raised in an unimpressed expression. 

Richie turned around to face his brother, drink in hand. "I killed him, Seth." Richie deadpanned. He figured that toeing around the bush wouldn't do neither of them any favors, and they were running on a short time limit, despite Richie's confidence that the stash-away place wouldn't be discovered anytime soon. 

Seth's jaw dropped, disbelief crystal-clear in his dark eyes. It would've almost been funny, in any other circumstances, to see his brother so unguarded, but Richie wasn't in a laughing mood tonight. "Come on, Seth. He would have done it to us, and you know it." Richie said, trying to play nonchalant, like it had been nothing to pull the trigger on the man. 

Seth's eyes hardened, a cold look entering the dark pupils. "You're serious, aren't you," He said flatly, no intonation in the tone at all. It unnerved Richie, because Seth never talked to him that way. Angry, yes, and often, too, but never emotionlessly. 

"Okay, maybe this is fucked up, but I don't care if you killed him, Richie. I care that you aren't bothered by this, Richard. How... How can it not bother you that you just killed someone?" 

Even if it was trash like that dealer. 

In fact, selfishly, Seth thought that he was upset because the dealer had died at the hands of his brother, staining those large, protective and familiar hands with blood that could never be washed off. 

He'd known that his brother wasn't going to let the dealer off easily, but to go as far as to kill him to ensure his silence... And yet Seth found the idea that his brother was now a murderer less disturbing and horrifying than he should have. 

But that didn't mean that his brother had to think of it that way, too. One Gecko brother fucked up in the head was enough. 

"Seth. I did it for us." Richie said, suddenly very, very tired. He could deal with his brother's anger, but that hollowed, shell-shocked expression Seth was wearing right then scared Richie more than he'd think. He sagged down on the chair, closing his eyes. For a minute, all he could think of was how tired he was, how tightly the wet suit clung to his skin. He just wanted to disappear for a moment. 

Seth went quiet. He knew that; knew that his brother cared for him as much as he did Richie, and he knew how deep their bond went. There was nothing worth as much as that, and well, if the things they were doing now would send them straight to eternal damnation? Seth didn't give a fuck. He'd stopped believing in God years ago, when God hadn't descended in all his holy glory to save them from their father. 

Then there had been that fire, and Seth didn't even know whether he was grateful for it or not. Seth had stopped trying to think of it on moral grounds a while back, and he was going to stick to that decision. 

The storm outside was still raging, but the silence hung in the room between the brothers like an ominous cloud. Finally, Seth spoke. "Okay, Richie." He said quietly, and walked out of the room, his footsteps leaving muffled sounds on the carpet. The slope of his shoulders and the way he held himself betrayed the defeat he felt. 

But all Richie could feel was relief, because Seth relenting meant that his brother had forgiven him, at least for the moment. And Richie could deal with that. No matter what would happen after they had buried the dealer, Richie could settle that later. 

There hadn't been anything between the Gecko brothers that couldn't settle yet, and Richie didn't intend for there to be. 

.......

The brothers stood over the covered hole in the ground, where the dealer was now buried six feet under. 

Overhead, the rain pounded down at the brothers, soaking them through to the skin. Richie had stripped off his suit jacket, and Seth was only wearing a thin shirt, so they weren't adversely affected by the heavy weather. 

"So. It's done." Richie finally said, breaking the abrupt silence that had fallen over them like a veil. Burying the body had been a somber affair, as if the brothers were the undertakers tasked with sending the dealer off on his last journey. The irony of it almost made Richie laugh. They would have been better suited with the roles of the grim reapers. 

Seth looked up, wiping his forehead on his sleeves. There wasn't really any point, since his shirt had long since been soaked through with a mixture of sweat and rainwater. The wet shirt clung to his brother's skin, tight enough to show off the well-built body underneath. As Seth shoveled up more dirt to cover up the dig properly, his muscles flexed, and Richie found himself inexplicably mesmerized by the pull of the taut skin under the shirt. 

It wasn't as if Richie hadn't seen Seth's admittedly impressive upper-body before- hell, they were brothers, and they'd always been closer than most anyway, Richie had seen his brother completely in the nude before. 

But this was different somehow; in this fucked up situation, Seth was the only constant, and he'd stood by Richie despite of what he'd done. 

The mixture of sweat and rainwater had left a sheen on Seth's skin, and his eyelashes looked obscenely long with the fluid caught at the ends of each girlish lash. Richie couldn't tear his eyes away from him. 

Seth seemed to notice his concentrated gaze, and looked up, meeting Richie's gaze square in the eye. Richie's breath caught. Seth's eyes were wide, glinting with some kind of faux innocence that only Richie would find attractive, and wait what? But then his brother was licking his lips, and Richie's attention was redirected. 

Shit.... Richie had never consciously took notice, but Seth's lips were full and red, sinful and sensual in equal measure. And the way his brother was licking them... Now those were thoughts a brother should never have. 

Seth frowned. There was a peculiar look in his brother's eyes now, in the heavy and intense look Richie was directing at him. Seth couldn't properly place it, but he could've sworn that it was the exact same look Richie had directed at that one girl at school, the hot blonde cheerleader that was every high school guy's wet dream. 

And that was just... Awkward and wrong. Seth understood that the fucked up situation they were in was probably getting to his brother's head, but being directed with that gaze... Sure, it felt uncomfortable, but then anyone would have, under that single-minded intensity. No, the disturbing thing was that Seth felt a strange thrill, being looked at like that. 

By his own brother. 

Seth shivered, a small, minute gesture, and then promptly spent the next few minutes trying to convince himself that it had been from the cold. 

.......

Back at the house, Seth called dibs on the first shower, and Richie let him, still disturbed by his reaction back in the woods. Trying to think deep into that particular matter was like diving into an endless ocean, an unsolvable paradox tying his brain around in endless figure eights. 

While waiting for his turn in the shower, Richie occupied himself by browsing through the books scattered around on the dining table. He smiled to himself as he flipped through the pages. Reading never failed to put his life on hold for the moment. 

A click, and the sound of rushing water gushing to a stop alerted Richie to Seth's exit from the bathroom. Seconds later, his brother stepped out, a bathrobe wrapped haphazardly around his waist as he hastily rushed towards the bedroom. "Sorry, uh, I forgot to bring in the change. Bathroom's all yours, I'll change in the bedroom." He called as he went. 

But Richie wasn't listening. His gaze was still caught on the pale, perfect skin on display, the chiseled body, and the tantalizing view of more skin beyond the bathrobe as it slipped from its precarious knots around Seth's waist. 

Abruptly aware that his breathing had gotten heavier, Richie stood up and walked over to the door of their bedroom without conscious thought, entering the room without knocking. 

Inside, Seth had thrown on a t-shirt and was in the process of pulling up his jeans. The tight clothing caught against his skin, stubbornly clinging on as Seth tried in vain to tug them up. Sighing, he moved over to sit down on the bed, using the better angle to pull them on with both hands.

Suddenly, Seth felt a heavy gaze settle on him, and the disturbing feeling of being watched. Snapping his head up, he met his brother's eyes. 

Richie was staring at him, hard, his gaze neither angry nor happy. There was a single-minded intent behind it, and Seth would be an idiot to not know it for what it was, what with his brother's suddenly blown pupils and uncomfortable shifting. 

Seth's pulse picked up, the strange duel between excitement and fear starting up a steady, thudding heartbeat. Hesitantly, he raised himself from the bed, boldly kicking off the jeans that hung awkwardly around his knees, walking over towards his brother with steady steps. 

Richie eyed him with the intense, unwavering gaze of a predator, and that euphemism made Seth shiver against his will. The air suddenly felt cold against his bare skin. 

For a moment, they just stood there, brother and brother, each taking the other in. It was a timeless, charged moment- anything or nothing could happen, and yet everything could branch out from that second, and spiral into something that could destroy the very fundaments of their relationship. 

Then Richie leaned forward, burrowing his head into the crook of Seth's neck. And as his brother breathed in deep against his skin, Seth relaxed, because fuck it, fuck what everyone else would think, this felt right. That was the Gecko brothers; it would be just the two of them against the world, fuck whatever it had to say. 

Richie lifted his head up, and Seth had a split second to glance into his brother's hooded dark eyes before soft lips were meeting his. 

Seth had always known that Richie had a wicked mouth, but it'd been an unconscious recognition, and without any accompanying emotions. But now those lips were pressed against his, and that tongue was probing into his own embarrassingly slack mouth. 

It wasn't that Seth hadn't kissed before- there had been plenty of girls at school who loved his "pretty boy" look, but this was different. This was Richie, and nobody could and would ever compare to Richie. 

Seth leaned into the kiss, wrapping his hands around his brother's neck, and shit, Richie was just so god damned tall. Richie moaned encouragingly, and through Seth's pleasure-induced haze, it was a while before he realized that his brother was hard against him. 

Seth reached down with a hand, shifting his body backwards to accommodate its descent between their bodies, which were pressed tight against each other. He broke the kiss momentarily to look up to judge his brother's reaction. 

Richie's eyes flickered, complicated emotions running through the blown dark pupils, spectacles riding low on the bridge of his nose. Then Richie was reaching down to grab Seth's hand, and pulling it away from where it was groping for. "No, Seth," He murmured, his voice low. 

"Not now. Maybe when you're older." 

As Richie stepped away, Seth sucked in a sharp breath. The full weight of what he, what they, had just done sunk into him, and he felt himself stagger under the onslaught of the implications. 

Seeing the dumbstruck look in Seth's eyes, Richie winced, backing away for the bathroom. He certainly could not find any regret in his heart for what they'd just done, but he suddenly wasn't sure about his brother. 

As he retreated into the shower, Richie turned the water down to a cold, icy blast, trying to banish his unfortunate erection. He closed his eyes. He would never touch Seth again that way, of that was what his brother wanted. Richie could deal with that. 

And Richie would keep that promise, at least for a long time yet. 

It didn't prevent him from getting off to the image of Seth's feverish eyes and red, swollen lips on particularly hot, sweaty summer nights. Richie had never claimed that he was a saint. 

................

4.

 

When the bag was yanked off Seth's head with enough force to probably twist his neck in the process, the younger Gecko brother gritted his teeth to stop himself from making a sound. His mind raced as he blinked, trying to adjust his eyes to the surroundings. Where was Richie? Was he safe? 

Seth snarled, his lips curling back to reveal sharp, white teeth. Richie had to be safe. He had to be, or else these bastards would pay the price in their blood. 

Not that Seth wasn't planning that already, and if he knew his brother, so was Richie. There was no way the Gecko brothers were going to let their kidnappers off with anything less. 

Approximately three hours ago, Seth and Richie had been ambushed by men wearing masks, and been overpowered and stashed in a moving vehicle, tied and bound tightly from head to toe, with a bag thrown over their heads. The guys hadn't been kidding around. Seth could feel his hands and arms getting sore under the layers of rope binding them tightly together behind his back, around the chair he had been unceremoniously placed on. 

Seth pursed his lips, refusing to give his captors the satisfaction of voicing his discomfort. 

"So, the infamous Gecko brothers. You're the younger one, aren't you? Seth." The way the man said his name made Seth's skin crawl. There was something about the man's lilting accent and soft taunts that made Seth's every hair stand on end. 

Other than his voice, there was nothing particularly distinct about the man. He was dressed head-to-toe in black, loose-fitting attire, but his face was uncovered for all to see. The gears in Seth's head turned. So this guy wasn't afraid to reveal his identity. Was he going to kill Seth after he was done? 

It made sense, at least. The Gecko brothers usually worked as a solitary unit- and if this guy had been able to kidnap them, he had to know that there wasn't anyone who would be willing to pay a ransom for either of them. 

If so, Seth was going to have to make out an escape route, soon. But first, he had to bait out some information about Richie's whereabouts. 

The man seemed to read Seth's intentions. "I've heard that you're close, the two of you. The Gecko brothers, always together." The man seemed to take a perverse joy in repeating their title, as if congratulating himself for managing to snare the duo of professional thieves. 

"Close enough to make a man wonder, eh? Did you share your girls with him, too?" The man continued, his heavy stare lodging firmly on Seth's body. Seth gritted his teeth, shifting in his seat, trying to ignore the impulse to retort. So that was the angle the man was aiming for. Any other topic would have been fine; but this? This was dangerous. 

Maybe because it was too close to the fucking truth, but no one had to know that. 

"No smart-ass reply to that? How unlike you. Too close to the mark for comfort, perhaps?" The man asked softly, leaning down close to Seth's mouth. Seth resisted the urge to spit in his face. 

"Or maybe you kept him all for yourself, Seth. Maybe you snuck into your brother's bed at night and fucked him with your hand clamped tight over his mouth. To stop Daddy dearest from hearing, maybe?" Seth screwed his eyes tight. He didn't have to hear this degrading shit; but what was worse was the fact that he was already unconsciously picturing the man's words. 

"Or maybe you let Daddy join in, too?" The voice was directly behind him now, mouth aligned with his ear. 

And that was the last fucking straw. Seth growled, a low, menacing sound, and then he was lunging backwards, aiming to crash hard into his captor with the back of his chair. 

But the man seemed to be prepared for an attack. He sidestepped easily, holding out a hand to steady the chair when the initial momentum was gone. "Now, now, don't get hasty." He chuckled, a dark, disturbing sound that chilled Seth's blood. 

Turning to his unseen minions, he called, "Bring the other Gecko brother!" 

Seth leaned back into the chair. Despite everything, and the threat in his captor's voice, Seth was relieved that Richie would be here soon. With his brother here, they would think of something together. 

In the meantime, making a show of calm was the least he could do, after his previous outburst. 

When they brought Richie, the older Gecko brother was bracketed by two guards, each holding on to one of his arms. From his stiff posture, Seth could tell that his hands were bound behind his back. 

At least Richie seemed relatively unharmed, other than the fact that his spectacles had dropped, hanging dangerously low. 

Seth resisted the familiar urge to reach out and push them up to their rightful position. The brothers acknowledged each other with a slight nod. 

"Well, well. The infamous Gecko brothers, all together. I'm honored, I truly am." The man smiled, revealing rows of gleaming white teeth. 

"Get to the point, Stuart. What do you want from us?" Richie said lowly. Seth blinked. It seemed that his brother had managed to get their captor's name. 

The man, Stuart, whipped around, his penetrating gaze leveling on the underlings that were restraining Richie. One of the goons flinched visibly, and Stuart's eyes narrowed, but he didn't say anything. 

Turning back around to Seth, Stuart looked right into his eyes as he withdrew a pistol from his pocket and pointed it at the underling who had flinched, eyes never leaving Seth's as he pulled the trigger. 

Seth sucked in a breath, only exhaling when the bullet hit the underling square in the chest. A gush of blood flowed out from the exit wound, and the man fell, dead before he hit the ground. Richie spared the man a glance before looking hard at Stuart. 

Stuart took a long, lingering look at the smoking tip of the pistol, before giving a warning glance towards Richie. "Well, Richard. What I want is simple: I want you to come over here, and fuck your little brother. Or else; I'll just have to use this on him." Stuart's fingers left a light trail over the trigger of the pistol, and Seth's face went pale. 

Richie's eyes glared cold daggers into Stuart's face, but the man remained stoic. The corners of his mouth turned in a cruel smirk. "Well? Which will it be?" Stuart asked. 

Richie tried to play for calm. "Why should I? You're going to kill us anyway, afterwards." He said evenly, adopting an air of indifference. Seth gave him a weak smile that was probably supposed to be reassuring, but just made Richie's insides clench. 

Stuart smiled. "Ah, but you wouldn't want your brother to suffer unnecessarily, would you? The gun has no eyes to see Seth's pretty face. And if my finger slips, your brother is going to suffer." As if to emphasize his point, Stuart fired a shot that burned a sizzling hole in the ground right beside Seth's leg. Seth flinched, his expressive eyes unwittingly betraying his fear. 

Richie said nothing, his face a mask of excessive calm. 

Stuart raised an eyebrow and gave a little shrug, as if saying, "whatever floats your boat". He turned around to stride over to Seth, his hand reaching down to pull down Seth's pants. Seth swallowed hard against the bile rising in the back of his throat. Fear rose like a screaming maniac that couldn't be controlled. 

Instinctively, Richie made to step forward, but the remaining minion's grip on his shoulder tightened. Gritting his teeth, Richie's eyes burned holes into Stuart's back. He couldn't give in yet. 

Smiling insidiously, Stuart eased the pistol between Seth's legs. The younger Gecko brother tried in vain to clamp his legs shut, but the ropes that bound his legs to the chair held fast. His breathing grew fast as uncontrollable panic grew. 

Even from the distance, Richie could see his brother's increasing panic and fear. His palms hurt from how hard his fingernails were digging into them, his wrists bound together behind him. 

Screw it. That was Seth over there, suffering at the hands of that bastard because Richie didn't want to make them seem weak. He would get them out of this; together and whole. He wasn't risking his brother at the hands of this trigger-happy kidnapper. 

Just as Richie was about to speak out, Stuart withdrew the pistol and instead pressed the muzzle against Seth's lips. The still-warm muzzle had to hurt, held against tender skin, but Seth valiantly pursed his lips. 

"Suck." Stuart ordered. The man was breathing hard now, and Seth tried to ignore the tenting in his captor's pants. Seth's eyes flickered over to Richie before he closed his eyes and let his mouth fall open in surrender. 

The words died in Richie's mouth when he saw the pistol slip into Seth's mouth, inch by inch of metal disappearing, engulfed by those red, trembling lips stretched along the pistol's length. There was something undeniably erotic about the act, and the bob of Seth's throat as he tried to swallow uncomfortably against the barrel of the pistol in his mouth. 

Then Seth's eyes flew open, and Richie's heart caught in his throat. The cold fear and hard anger in those dark eyes jerked Richie back into reality. White hot fury lanced through Richie, and when he spoke, his voice was steady and low, a dangerous sound. 

"Stop. I'll do it." The words reverberated in the suddenly silent room. 

Stuart smiled, pulling his pistol free from Seth's mouth with an obscene pop, walking over to Richie. Seth shut his eyes, not wanting to see what would happen next. 

Stuart stopped a few paces away from where Richie stood, stiff with displeasure and discomfort, still smirking. Pointedly, provocatively, he lifted the pistol's wet tip to his mouth and kissed it. Then, he gestured at the minion to release the older Gecko brother. 

Richie felt the cold blade of a knife press against his palm for a fraction of a second, and then it was gone, and he was free. 

Rubbing his sore wrists, Richie started to walk towards Seth, but Stuart stopped him. Stuart's smile widened as he pressed the pistol into Richie's hand. "That's for testing my patience. And don't try anything funny," He warned, drawing a semi-automatic from his holster. 

Richie's lips pressed into a thin line, but he said nothing. As he kneeled down before Seth, he saw his brother's eyes widen slightly before he rapidly composed himself. Richie made a point to lay down the gun nearby, where he would be able to snatch it up before Stuart could come close, before bending down to untie the knots securing Seth's legs to the chair. 

"What do you think you're doing?" Stuart asked, his voice laced with displeasure, and Seth tensed. But Richie was calm. "The angle's wrong enough as it is. Do you want us to put on a good show or not?" He replied, not pausing in his efforts. 

There was a long pause, but Stuart relented. Good, Seth thought. If the guy was so easily ruled by his dick instead of his brain, it would make their escape that much easier. But first... Seth glanced down at his brother, kneeling before him, and shit. The thoughts that were creeping into his head were so wrong. 

Once Richie was finished with the knots, he picked up the pistol again, and stood up. His eyes were hooded as he towered over Seth, and Seth felt a prickle of apprehension. Even he couldn't read Richie in that moment. 

Then Richie was tilting his head upwards to kiss him, and Seth forgot everything about their situation. 

Lips met lips, and then Richie was devouring Seth's mouth like he'd craved it for years, and boy was that thought intoxicating. They hadn't had such intimate contact since that stormy day years ago, when the Richie had killed his first man. And Seth hadn't been able to stop his imagination from running since then, his sick, twisted brain coming up with fantasies that never strayed far from his brother's hands and lips. 

Richie broke the kiss first, leaving barely leaving a millimeter's space between their lips as he whispered, "I have a plan." And that was familiar, a sane part of this whole thing that got Seth's attention. "Yeah?" He asked softly, resisting the urge to nip at Richie's lips. 

"We've got the gun," Richie murmured, carding a hand through Seth's short hair, and that was distracting. Seth fought to keep himself focused on the matter at hand. "Yeah?" He croaked out, his voice breaking embarrassingly. 

"Jesus, Seth, is that the only word you know how to say?" Richie huffed. "We'll distract him by getting him all hot and bothered, and then you shoot him while I cover you." Seth opened his mouth to protest, but Richie shushed him with another quick, teasing press of lips. 

"Okay, okay, fine." Seth muttered when they broke apart again. "But what're you prepared to do to distract him?" That was the question weighing on Seth's mind- how far was Richie willing to go to keep up pretenses? Seth groaned in his mind. This was going to fuck them up, one way or another. He knew it already, sure as he knew that he was getting hard just from Richie's proximity and his kisses. 

Richie was silent for a moment. "As much as it takes," He replied grimly. 

With that, he was on Seth again, practically climbing onto him. The chair creaked precariously, and Seth parted his legs to better accommodate Richie. He could feel his brother leaning over to try to loosen the knots on his wrists discreetly, but the angle wasn't right and Stuart would see, Seth just knew it. 

"Pretend you're taking off my jacket," Seth hissed as Richie slipped the pistol between the groove of their bodies. And that was just plain dangerous; the safety was still off. 

Richie obliged, and under the cover of pulling the jacket down, he worked on the knots again, his mouth firmly attached to the side of Seth's neck, where it sucked marks into the skin. 

Seth moaned aloud, not even having to fake the sound. When they walked out of this place together, people would see the marks Richie had left on him, and they would know. 

The thought left him feeling more aroused than disgusted. Not for the first time, Seth wondered what the fuck was wrong with him. Maybe Dad had picked on him for a reason, when they were kids. Maybe Dad had always known that he would grow up to be a sick fuck that lusted after his older brother. 

Richie's nimble hands loosened the knots around Seth's left wrist. He gave Seth's hand a small, reassuring squeeze before using his other hand to reach down between them. Seth had a split second to wonder if Richie was going to shoot after all, before a warm, large hand was wrapping itself around his cock. 

A strangled moan tore itself free from the back of Seth's throat. "Richie," He whispered, his voice a hoarse gasp. Richie shushed him, casually switching over to work on the ropes binding his other wrist. Richie had always had such talented hands... 

His breaths were coming in fast pants now, and Seth was definitely growing hard, powerless under his brother's manipulations. Every tug and pull made Seth's breath catch in his throat. This was wrong, but Seth couldn't help the waves of pleasure that washed over him as his hips canted forward of their own accord. 

Seth raised his eyes to look into Richie's, dark and intense through the lens of his spectacles. The pupils were blown wide with emotion, but even now, Richie was calm and controlled, his left hand working efficiently on the last of the knots binding Seth to the chair, while the other... 

Seth shut his eyes, unable to look into his brother's deep, dark eyes. Combined with what they were doing, the overwhelming weight of the emotions in them were too much. Seth knew that Richie cared for him, loved him, but this was too much, too quick. He couldn't do this; couldn't look into Richie's eyes and let himself believe that Richie wanted this. 

"Seth." 

The word was almost growled out, possessiveness and impatience and desire all rolled into one. Seth moaned, a fresh jolt of arousal spearing through the hazy cloud induced by the previously slow rhythm. Richie sped the pace up, his fingers moving with almost urgent strokes that made Seth's eyes roll into the back of his head. 

The entire world seemed to centre down to the two of them then, still mostly dressed and one draped over the other on a creaky chair, with Seth's increasingly uncontrollable moaning and Richie's occasional breathless groans filling the silence. 

"Come on, Seth, come for me," Richie growled, and Seth cried out, obediently spilling into his brother's palm. Almost immediately, Richie was pressing the pistol into Seth's hand, and taking a moment to steady his aim, Seth shot at Stuart from behind the crook of Richie's arm. 

He had been aiming for Stuart's head, but the bullet hit the kidnapper in the shoulder instead. As blood spluttered out of the gunshot wound, Stuart's entire arm jerked violently, and his gun fell to the ground, useless. Stuart clutched tightly at his shaking injured side, howling out his order. "Stop them!" 

Even as Stuart was shouting, Richie was already moving, sliding off the chair and sprinting towards the minion, seemingly unarmed. But he was fast, and by the time the minion had reacted enough to point his gun at Richie, the older Gecko brother was throwing a knife at him. 

With the full force of Richie's skill and momentum behind the thrust, the knife flew towards the minion at breakneck speed, embedding itself to the hilt in the man's heart. The minion's entire body jerked once, then fell to the ground, still. 

The gun went off, triggered by the minion's dying spasms, the bullet ricocheting wildly around the room before blowing a hole in the wall. It was a calculated risk, but one that had to be taken. 

Stuart swore, dropping to the ground and crawling over to the remaining gun. He was smart, and quick, but Seth was quicker. Pointing the gun straight at Stuart's head, he said, low and dangerous, "Stay there, or I'll blow a hole in your head and splatter your brains across the walls before you even touch the handle." 

Stuart gritted his teeth against what had to be the agony of his gunshot wound, but said nothing and stopped moving. 

Across the room, Richie had retrieved his knife from the minion's chest, brows furrowing in distaste. As he drew the knife out, a gush of blood spurted out from the dead man's chest. Richie wiped the blood-stained edge of his blade against the clean side of the minion's clothes before striding over to his brother. 

"Come on, we gotta go. No telling when his backup will be here." Richie said, calmly sliding his knife back into place. Seth nudged his head in Stuart's direction. "What about him?" He asked casually. When all this was over, when the adrenaline singing in his veins had cooled and they were safe in the next motel, he would relieve his hatred of their kidnapper, but for the moment, he was calm. 

Richie shrugged, but there was a cold glint in his eyes. Seth understood, and knew why Richie wanted the man dead. Stuart had managed to kidnap them, and that had to affect their reputation as the ruthless Gecko brothers to a certain degree. And he had humiliated them, personally. 

He had also made the Gecko brothers make untimely discoveries about their feelings about each other, exactly how deep they went and in what context. Seth was afraid of what he had just felt, and Richie had to be, too. 

Seth Gecko might have once been a good man, but ever since Richie had killed his first man, it had been inevitable. The Gecko brothers were a single unit, combined, and what Richie had done equated to what he himself had. 

The loud sound of a gun firing without a silencer echoed in the room, and Stuart fell to the ground, eyes open and glassy in death. 

...................

5\. 

 

She crept up on him, the goddess. 

Richie wasn't sure how long she had been lurking in the depths of his mind, but suddenly she was there, an omnipotent existence that he couldn't ignore or erase. He'd tried, in the early days, when he hadn't understood who and what she was, but she always resurfaced. 

She had shown him how to truly see, to read beyond the surface and look into other's minds and true thoughts. Richie had been frightened, at first, convinced that he had descended into madness, but then he had understood. The goddess had chosen him, and given him a gift of sight. 

Richie had turned that power on small, inconsequential things at first; just to test its truth and reliability. A part of him felt empowered when her gift proved its worth, but another had feared it, the potency of the power, and what it could do to men. What it could do to him, if another possessed it. 

What it could do to Seth. 

That was the inevitable next thought; Richie rarely thought of himself without thinking of his brother. It wasn't that Seth was an extension of himself- Seth was an individual, a pillar of strength that Richie could always count on as well as he could count on himself, but an individual nonetheless. 

But Seth was the most important thing in Richie's life, together with the goddess. They were two things that Richie would protect and thirst after for the rest of his life. 

So the next thing Richie did was to use his sight on Seth. 

At first, there weren't any significant results. Seth was honest to him most of the time, and he never lied about anything important, so Richie never pointed it out. He knew that Seth would freak out, probably think he needed a shrink if Richie told him about the goddess and her gift, so he kept his mouth shut. 

Then Richie saw Seth's dreams. 

The Gecko brothers didn't sleep together anymore. With their height and build, sharing a bed would be awkward, so they slept in separate beds in the same room. The brothers were familiar with each other's sleeping habits- they were both light sleepers; a childhood of having to tiptoe around their father had ensured that. 

At night, Seth's sleep was often disturbed by nightmares. Richie understood, and never asked unless his brother wanted to share. He was plagued by his own demons, too. 

Sometimes they took the shape of the man sleeping just across the room, eager and willing in Richie's dreams, spread out so beautifully just for him. 

It ends as it begins, at night, with Richie creeping in, only this time there was Seth's mind instead of a bed. 

Seth had been having a particularly bad night. He'd been breathing hard and fast for minutes, and Richie had been aware for it for what seemed like hours. Then he'd started crying out with what sounded like moans that were an indistinguishable mix; could have either been pain-induced groans or pleasure-filled exhalations. 

That last thought made Richie squirm under his sheets, suddenly aware that he could enter his brother's dreams, and see what was tormenting him. But no. That would be wrong; Richie wouldn't use his power on Seth unless absolutely necessary. Right? 

The continuous sounds coming from Seth's end of the room made Richie shiver. The summer night was way too hot; Richie's legs stuck to the sheets with sweat, and he could feel a stirring between them. 

And wasn't that just fucked up- getting off to hearing his brother's possibly pained whimpers from just across the room. 

Then Seth moaned out Richie's name, and fuck. 

The truth was, there could have been unlimited possibilities to why Seth had groaned that out- for Richie to be a recurring element in his nightmares wouldn't be a far stretch, if Seth was relieving something like that last kidnapping affair. But none of those possibilities could have deterred Richie from his decision: he had to look into Seth's mind, had to see for himself. 

Reaching out with just his mind was impossible, so Richie carefully walked over to Seth's bed. His brother looked wrecked; blanket cast askew, chest heaving with pants, sweat plastered to his skin. Seth's eyes were closed tightly, his mouth forming a series of small 'o's as it emitted those sinful sounds. 

Richie felt the blood rush to his groin, but he resisted jumping his brother in favor of entering his dreams. Pressing a hand to Seth's clammy forehead, Richie closed his eyes and concentrated. 

It was almost effortless now, to summon his power. When Richie opened his eyes again, he could see flickers of visions, could feel the strong, overwhelming waves of the emotions Seth was feeling. 

Fear and excitement. Disgust and want. Seth's entire body felt tense, as if he were afraid that if he relaxed, he would be giving in to something wrong. His forehead was feverish under Richie's hand. 

"Richie." Seth gasped out again, and this time Richie acceded to his unspoken request. 

Leaning down, Richie kissed Seth, hard, pouring the barrage of emotions and longing that Richie had felt emanating from his brother back at him. Seth's eyes snapped open, instantly awake, senses alert as usual. 

But he was kissing Richie back immediately, sliding his lips apart in a soundless invitation. Richie groaned; after so many years of longing and silent pining, so many restrains and mixed signals, it felt incredibly satisfying to finally be able to take what he wanted, and know that Seth felt the same way. 

No, more than that: it felt like the final piece to Richie's idea of paradise. Now he had the goddess, and Seth too. It was the best of both worlds. 

Seth broke the kiss, a hand frantically pushing at Richie's chest. Richie was distracted by his brother's swollen lips, but Seth's eyes was undeniably clear now, opened wide in crystal-clear clarity and horror. 

Seth swiped a hand at his mouth, horrified that his lips were as swollen as they felt. It had felt so real, but Seth had never consciously made the transition of illusion into reality. He wasn't sure who had initiated the kiss, but Seth would be horrified either way. The way Richie was looking at him now.... He'd seen it directed at him before, but he'd always put it down to unfortunate circumstance. 

And damn if that didn't give his traitorous heart hope. 

"Richie, I- Oh god, I didn't start this, did I?" Seth asked, watching with rising panic as his brother gave him a slight shake of his head and a small smile. Seth didn't like that smile; it meant that Richie knew something that Seth didn't, and he wasn't planning to tell him. 

"Come on, Seth. That's not the main point here, and you and I both know it." Richie ignored Seth's anxious glare, putting up a calming hand. "Just tell me this- Do you want me?" There was an odd look in Richie's eyes now, an overwhelming certainty of exactly what Seth would say before he had even opened his mouth. It was different from Richie's confidence in his brilliance; there was nothing proud about his expression now. 

It unnerved Seth, but at the moment Richie's question held more of his attention. 

What could he say? Dancing around in circles, beating about the bush- all of those tactics wouldn't work, not with Richie, who was always so perceptive. Looking up into his brother's eyes, Seth realized that he had to make a choice here. He could deny Richie's statement, and deny all of his desires in the process, bury them under forever. There was a chance that Richie would let it go, and they could go on without ever bringing up this incident. 

Or he could admit it. Seth could admit his fucked up affections, let out the pent out frustration, and Richie could either accept it or hate him for it. After all, Richie had kissed him back too, right? 

"Yes." Seth admitted. No skirting around the issue, no fancy words to cushion the impact of the truth. And oh, Seth knew about how cruel the truth could be, how it could drive the breath out of someone, leave a hole in their chests and never fill it back. 

Richie smiled again, and then Seth was being pressed down flat on his bed, with Richie on top of him. "Good," Richie whispered, his voice in Seth's ear, a heady, satisfied purr. "Because I intend to make the best of tonight." 

............

Afterwards, the Gecko brothers lay together entangled in each other's arms, contented and safe. It ended as it had begun; the brothers were once again sharing a bed, having pushed together the two single beds. 

Through the pleasant haze of post-coitus, Seth looked up at his brother. Richie was perfect in the moonlight, face thoughtful and relaxed in their shared afterglow. He might not have been perfect to anyone else, not by a long shot, but every little imperfection that Seth knew made him exactly who he was- Seth's brother, his protector when they were children. 

Seth would protect him now, make up for when he had been too weak to do anything. And fuck what the world thought, with their pretentious ideals that they knew exactly what was right and wrong. 

Richie stared out at the window. If he concentrated hard enough, he could see the faint silhouette of the goddess, her flaming eyes and red lips. "Find me, Richard," She whispered, but for now Richie wouldn't listen to her, because Seth was here, in his arms. 

The moonlight shone through the motel window, and a sudden howl of wind slammed it shut, leaving the Gecko brothers with a night of privacy, separating them from the rest of the world. Away from the grand plots and schemes that were only just beginning in the minds of those who were still very much awake.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! :D 
> 
> steadiesthandsonboard.tumblr.com


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